Clinton to Obama: Don't attack Romney on Bain

Ex-president urges incumbent to focus on ideas

by Dan Balz - Jun. 1, 2012 10:53 PMWashington Post

Friday's dismal jobs report and some unexpected words from Bill Clinton delivered a bracing reminder to President Barack Obama and his advisers that the election remains primarily a referendum on his record and that their path to victory may lie less in trying to discredit Republican Mitt Romney and more in winning a battle of ideas with their Republican rival.

The latest report -- just 69,000 jobs were added last month -- was far worse than forecasters had predicted and undermined the administration's contention that the economy is truly on a path to recovery. Administration officials pointed out that the economy added jobs for the 27th consecutive month. The weakness of that response underscored the challenge facing the president as he seeks to convince voters that he has the tools and the political wherewithal to fix what still ails the economy.

History suggests that voters' perceptions of the economy, and therefore the performance of the incumbent, begin to lock in several months before an election.

By that measure, Obama has little time to show progress. The economy appears to have fallen into another spring slump, after signs in the winter that suggested the recovery was genuinely taking hold. And the president may have only limited ability to affect the biggest looming danger to the U.S. economy, which is the situation in Europe. It is no wonder that analysts say the president's prospects for re-election are no better than 50-50.

The president's campaign has appeared wedded to a strategy of trying to discredit Romney. That began with attacks on his role at Bain Capital, the private equity firm where he made his fortune. Obama's advisers believe it will have the desired effect on voters, but so far there is very little evidence that attacks on Bain are changing minds.

The Bain attacks have caused grumbles from Democrats who have friends and allies in the private equity world, but those complaints did not deter the president's Chicago team from pressing forward. What Bill Clinton said Thursday on CNN may give them greater pause -- though Republicans may have rushed too quickly to embrace the former president.

Clinton said Romney has a "sterling" record in business. He also said that private equity is a legitimate part of the economy and that not all investments in failing companies turn out to be winners. He further said the combination of Romney's experience in business and in Massachusetts means he is ready to serve as president.

"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say, 'This is bad work. This is good work,' " Clinton said on the "Piers Morgan Tonight" program that was being hosted by movie producer Harvey Weinstein. "The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold."

That was interpreted as a signal to the Obama team to ratchet back on attacks that Republicans have characterized as anti-business and anti-free enterprise. Obama's advisers have argued that the Bain attacks were not aimed at business broadly but only at Romney's qualifications and values. Clinton seemed to knock down the wisdom of that approach.

But the former president may not have been as far off message as the instant interpretations suggested -- or as much as Romney and the Republicans want to believe. After all, in the same interview, he predicted that Obama would win re-election -- and by five or six points, which is a more bullish projection that most Democrats will say publicly.